by David P. Greisman
Jermall Charlo and Julian Williams will be in the biggest fight of their careers when they face each other for Charlo’s junior middleweight title on the Dec. 10 undercard of Jesus Cuellar vs. Abner Mares on Showtime.
It marks a culmination of where they’ve come from, with a chunk of that being shown on the network.
“We’re very proud of both of these fighters. They’ve both been homegrown here on Showtime,” said network executive Stephen Espinoza during a Nov. 9 media conference call. Jermall has fought with us five times before, Julian has been on Showtime seven times. So we’re proud of the role that Showtime has played in both of their careers.”
Showtime has aired about one-fifth of Charlo’s career and nearly one-third of Williams’.
Charlo, who is 24-0 with 18 KOs, had his first appearance on the network when he fought on a Showtime Extreme-broadcast undercard in early 2013, taking out Orlando Lora. Since then, he also beat Antwone Smith on “ShoBox” in 2013, Hector Munoz on “ShoBox” in 2014, Lenny Bottai on a Showtime Championship Boxing card in 2014, and Austin Trout on Showtime earlier this year.
Williams, who is 22-0-1 with 14 KOs, had his first appearance on the network when he beat Jeremiah Wiggins on a Showtime Extreme broadcast undercard in early 2013. Since then, he beat Dashon Johnson on Showtime Extreme in 2013, Joachim Alcine on Showtime Extreme in 2013, Michael Medina on Showtime Extreme in 2014, Jamar Freeman on Showtime Extreme in 2014, Armen Ovsepyan on Showtime Extreme in 2015, and Marcello Matano on Showtime earlier this year.
“More importantly, we’re proud that these guys stepped up to take this kind of fight,” Espinoza said. “Jermall Charlo is seen as one of the most exciting young champions in the sport. He’s defended that title successfully, built a fan base in his home of Houston, and really looks to take over the division and elevate to the star echelon of the sport. Julian Williams is a guy who has been identified as one of the rising stars for quite some time. I know he’s been patiently waiting and sometimes not so patiently waiting for his shot. I know he’ll be ready.”
This is part of a string of seven fights that Showtime announced for five broadcasts between December and March.
“We’ve got two young fighters in the peaks of their career, one world champion who’s established himself really as one of the future stars in the sport, and taking on one of the toughest contenders in any division in Julian Williams,” Espinoza said at one point.
“So of all the fights that we’ve announced, and there’s a lot of quality fights, this fight is one of the ones that I’m most excited about,” he said at another point.” Two young guys at the peaks of their career really battling to determine who will be controlling this division for a long time to come. This will help determine who are the future stars of our sport.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
